1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to earth and gravel moving tractors. More particularly, the present invention is related to extensions for the front bucket of a front loading tractor having a disperse material funneling and distributing function.
2. Description of the Related Art
During construction of buildings such as houses and industrial buildings, it is necessary to provide gravel or other material to an area to be covered with concrete to form a level base for the concrete. In the case of basements, a front loading tractor cannot transport needed material to locations spaced away from the surrounding walls, so that it is necessary to employ wheelbarrows, requiring heavy labor and time to move the gravel or sand to the desired locations along the surface for spreading to form a level base for the concrete pour. It is known to provide various attachments to the front bucket of a front loader tractor (otherwise known as a front-end loader) to accomplish various functions such as extending the reach or capacity of the bucket, trench digging, or controlling the flow of materials from the front bucket during the dumping process. It would be desirable to provide an attachment which allows the delivery of gravel or similar materials to a location remote from the bucket during the spreading of a base for pouring concrete floors or equivalent operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,590,352, issued Mar. 25, 1952, to Sanner et al., describes a front load bucket having a ditch digging attachment.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,558, issued Mar. 5, 1957, to Morgan, describes a trenching attachment for excavating buckets.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,266, issued Aug. 10, 1971, describes a curved plate bucket extension allowing the control of the opening between the bucket and the plate and thus the rate of flow of material from the bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,771, issued Jan. 17, 1978, to Zimmerman, describes a front loader bucket attachment consisting of a separate carrier bucket having a front dumping chute which is particularly useful for carrying and pouring concrete.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,447, issued Jul. 11, 2000, to Rose, describes a trenching tool attachment for a bucket of a front end loader.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a front end loader bucket discharge funnel solving the aforementioned problems is desired.